What Will It Take?
by Take-A-Look-Through-My-Eyes
Summary: Maya is a new art student at NYU and likes to pretend to be things that she's not and calls it performance art. It's all fun until she meets Lucas, who just isn't fazed by her outrageous characters. Now Maya's determined to break out her weirdest personas to freak him out.
1. Tempest

Maya has never been a people pleaser. She also never wasted a perfect opportunity to freak people out; show them why they should stay away. She had moved to New York from the Midwest about two weeks ago. She had gotten accepted to NYU and was here on a scholarship to study art. She liked to think of every day, every interaction, as an opportunity to perform, to become an art piece. And what better time than now when she had a completely blank canvas in front of her. No one knew her here. She could be anything, anybody she wanted.

She hadn't been able to test this out just yet, seeing as how classes don't start for another week, but that just gave her more time to perfect her craft. But that also didn't mean she couldn't freak out a poor guy trying to do his job. She ordered a pizza about 20 minutes ago and was currently setting up her stage. She set up a makeshift shrine with a random picture of some kind of demon she found on Google. She was wearing a long, black gown, complete with a black veil to cover her face. She had just finished lighting the many candles she had placed around her living room when she heard a knock at the door. She pressed play on her iPod and the room was filled with generic monk chanting and music. Then Maya quickly knelt in front of the shrine.

"It's open," she said in a low, dramatic voice. She could hear the door open behind her but other than that it was quiet. She concealed a grin. Maybe he would be so scared he'll just drop the pizza and run. After a moment she heard him clear his throat.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, ma'am. But I have your pizza." Wow, he's braver than she gave him credit for. Maya stood up, keeping her head down, and slowly walked over to him. When she was about a foot away she lifted her head and stared into his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. I was just in the middle of worshipping the god of the underworld." The tall blond didn't falter. In fact, he smiled down at her.

"Oh good. I don't like disturbing people during religious rituals. It just feels so rude." Maya blinked a couple times and lifted her veil.

"This doesn't bother you?" Tall Guy shook his head slightly.

"I would never judge someone. Especially based on their spiritual beliefs. That's not fair to the person. My name's Lucas, by the way. What's yours?" Maya was not about to give up on this. She walked over and stared dramatically into the light of one of the candles.

"The name's Tempest. It means 'violent storm'." She turned her head to glance in his direction. Again, the little frickin' ray of sunshine was smiling.

"That's really interesting." Maya let out a huff and walked back to him.

"You aren't fazed by this. You really aren't gonna judge me." She put a hand on her hip. Lucas pulled her pizza out of his bag.

"Well I really can't judge a girl who's brave enough to eat sauerkraut on pizza. You seem like a real go-getter. It's always refreshing to meet someone who doesn't fit the norm and dares to say, 'I'm different.'" She stared at him with her brow furrowed.

"You got all that from a pizza topping?"

"That, and all this." He gestured to her and the room. "Oh, this is $13.95 by the way." Maya pulled some bills from her pocket without looking away from him, narrowing her eyes.

"Here's 20. I normally don't tip that much but you're too cheery and I fear that you're gonna kill me with kindness or something if I don't." Lucas laughed.

"Sounds like something I would do, thanks. I'll let you get back to your prayers. See you later." He smiled brightly and waved before he left.

Maya let out a huff and proceeded to blow out every candle before plopping herself on the couch. She took a piece of pizza out of the box and started chewing on it. All of a sudden she knew she had to speak to him again. Maya rushed out onto her fire escape and searched until she found him opening his car door.

"Hey!" Lucas jumped a little but when he caught sight of her he smiled and raised his hand above his head to wave.

"Hey, long time, no see."

Maya resisted the urge to gag. "You said 'See you soon.' What did you mean by that?" Lucas smiled down at his shoes before looking back up.

"You know, some people just use that as a way of saying goodbye." Maya blushed a little. "But in this case, I happened to see the stack of NYU papers on your table. I assumed you were gonna be going there and, what a coincidence, so am I." Maya stared at him for a moment.

"It's never a good idea to assume things." She turned away and walked back inside. Before she shut the window she heard him shout, "Hope to see you soon!" Maya rolled her eyes.


	2. Serendipity

It was the first day of classes and Maya was thrilled. She had only sat through two classes and was already in love. Seeing her professors and fellow students so passionate about art made her all the more passionate. So much, that she had rushed home to change her clothes. Maya couldn't wait to put on another performance piece, and for more people this time. She walked through campus in her new disguise, only getting a few passing glances. Once she found a nice, big tree amongst the mass of people, she sat down, guitar in her lap.

This time she was wearing a long, flowing skirt; puffy, long sleeved shirt; flower crown, and no shoes. She started strumming lightly and nodding her head back and forth with her eyes closed.

"Look out!" Maya had just enough time to open her eyes and turn her head before a baseball collided with her jaw, knocking her over.

"What the fuck...?" she mumbled as she stared up at the tree from her position on the ground. Then there was a guy in her field of vision, looking worried.

"I am SO sorry about that." He took hold of her arm and sat her up. "Are you okay?" Maya moved her jaw back and forth.

"Yeah, I think so." Just then she noticed who the guy was. The happy-go-lucky pizza delivery guy. He smiled.

"Good. My friend, Farkle, isn't so good at playing catch. And I didn't realize just how hard I had thrown the ball. But I guess that's what happens when you've been playing since you were five." Was this guy serious? Easily bragging when he could've easily broken her jaw? She looked over to his friend that was standing a few yards away. Probably afraid to approach her because he had failed to catch the ball. Then she looked back to pizza guy. _What was his name? Lucas?_ His face grew a little more serious.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Maya panicked a little. She put on the dreamiest, girliest voice she could muster.

"I don't know. I tend to just go where the wind takes me. We may have met but I tend to listen to the Earth more than those who dwell on her. Always going from one journey to the next, seeing new sights, meeting new people. It is impossible to remember it all." Lucas looked a little taken back but he eventually smiled.

"No, I know you. You're Tempest, right? I brought you a pizza last week." _How did this guy remember her so easily?_

She started running her fingers through the grass, not looking at him.

"It's not Tempest. My name is Serendipity." She made the best poker face she could, trying to gauge his reaction. After a few seconds he smiled again. _What the hell?_

"Sorry, my mistake. That's a beautiful name. So what were you doing out here before we almost killed you?" Maya was quick to think on her feet. She picked up her guitar.

"I was feeling and listening to the earth and speaking back to her through song. I listen to the wind rustle the leaves and feel the vibrations on the ground. This is her talking. So I thank her by gifting her my music." She closed her eyes and strummed again for added effect. When she opened her eyes again she saw him hanging on her every word.

"That is really fascinating. What was the earth saying?" Maya furrowed her brow.

"Um, th-that we need to treat her with more respect and not take her for granted." Lucas situated himself so he was sitting next to her, leaning up against the tree.

"Okay, how do we do that?"

"Uh- We need to give thanks." She was not giving up. She need to really make him uncomfortable. "Sing and dance and play music. Maybe chant or even bare ourselves, reducing ourselves to our natural state. Show her that we are merely visitors on her surface and that we appreciate it." She looked over to him. He seemed slightly uncomfortable but not enough to get up and walk away.

"Well I don't know any chants but I would gladly dance around with you if you think that would please her. I don't think we're allowed to be completely bare on campus without security coming after us, but here-" He stood up and stipped himself of his shirt and shoes. "This'll have to do for now. So! What do I need to do?" Maya just gaped at him for many reasons. 1. He was actually okay with what she was saying. 2. He was VERY willing to do anything she said. 3. His abs looked amazing.

"I-I don't- Well. I could play some music and we could sway. Like the leaves on the trees. Show that we are no different than the tree we stand before." Lucas just gave a thumbs up. _What did she get herself into?_

She started strumming a light tune off the top of her head and swayed her hips back and forth. Lucas watched and did so as well, matching her movements. After a little while, he started to kind of freestyle, watching the branches and moving his arms to mimic them. Then he walked over to the trunk and ran his hand along the bark as circled the tree. Maya couldn't help but smile and get more into the music as well. She looked around and saw that they captured the attention of more than a few people. But when she saw Lucas laugh and dance, she couldn't help but feel just as carefree.

Lucas walked over and stood directly in front of her. He sneaked his hands under her guitar and took hold of her hips, swaying with her once more. She couldn't help the blush that spread out over her face but he looked so peaceful and free that she didn't dwell on it long.

A minute later she stopped playing, looking up into his eyes again. He smiled widely. They could hear a couple people clap at their makeshift performance and then they all dispersed. She looked over his shoulder to see his friend, Farkle, look bemused as he watched them. Lucas laughed and brought her attention back to him. He walked over to his shirt and put it on.

"That was amazing! It was actually really fun. Thank you for letting me join you. It was like some kind of spiritual journey or something. Very refreshing!" He looked over at his friend. "Well, I should probably get going, Farkle's just standing there, looking lost." He laughed again. He walked back over to her and hesitated before hugging her briefly. "Thanks again. I hope we see each other again. You're one of the most interesting people I've met." And with that he ran off.

Maya let out a heavy breath and sat down by the tree again. Did he really just do that? What was it going to take to get to him? She was definitely going to have to step up her game.


End file.
